Duck-Rabbit Brown Ale | The Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery

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Reviews by glid02:

Pours a slightly hazy dark brown color with a one-finger tan head that leaves spotty lacing down the glass.

Smells of citrus hops and lightly toasted chocolate malts. As it warms the hop aromas intensify.

Tastes similar to how it smells. Toasted chocolate malts kick things off and are soon overtaken by citrus hop flavors. The ending allows a bit of the chocolate flavor to sneak back in before the mildly bitter ending.

Mouthfeel is good. It's got a nice thickness, though the carbonation is a bit on the heavy side.

Drinkability is good. I had no problem with one glass but I'm not terribly excited about another.

Overall this is a hoppy brown that's tasty, though I wish the malts had more of a presence.

More User Reviews:

Pours a tawny brown with a nice tight one finger almond colored head,nice aromas of caramel and roasted malts although quite subtle.Somewhat dry from the get go some earthy nuttiness and roasted malt flavors along with a touch off wood I do pick up some nice dry bitterness from a healthy dose of hops for a brown.I have been breaking away from this style and becoming more of a hophead but this suits me fine,nicely crafted and will buy again.

A: Dark brown and slightly translucent - not black but dark. Poured into a pint glass this produced an abundant foamy head of light brown, dissipating relatively quickly but with good lacing.

S: Coffee is prevalent on the nose with some additional hints of earthiness, especially after a good swirl.

T: Robust flavors from a complexity of malty goodness leaving you with a nutty, dry coffee sort of flavor. The finish is dry and a bit hoppy.

M&D: Pretty good mouthfeel with decent carbonation. The bittering is nice but it seems like it could be a bit smoother.

The overall impression is that this is a pretty good beer. It's satisfying, but not too filling. I personally like the hoppy taste, which is a little bit more than most of the brown ales that I have had the opportunity to sample thus far. All said, not bad.

In true American style a lot of hops are thrown at this beer from start to finish and dry-hopped to boot (Amarillo and Saaz respectively).

Cappuccino style froth yields a beautiful trail of tan lace that drapes the inside of the glass. Dark chestnut hue but not dark enough to hide the clarity when put up to the light. Pungent and slightly sharp hop aroma, suggestions of citric peel, pepper corn and freshly cut grass come to mind. Mild-roasted malts drop a thick scent of chicory on the nose. Smooth with a slick medium body, perfect level of carbonation still provides crispness throughout. The bitterness from the hops seems to be on top of the palate, though never sharp or overly bitter. A bit of spicy, citric and herbal flavor from both the Amarillo and Saaz. Maltiness comes slightly roasty with some sweetness. A touch of toffee and unsweetened chocolate. Finishes semi-dry.

Some stellar drinking here, impressive flavor profiles from the malt and hops yet still very sessionable. Duck-Rabbit raise the benchmark a few notches in the American Brown Ale style with this one.

After wiping off the counter post-pop-the-top explosion, I'm now looking at 3/4 glass of soapy suds atop a 1/4" off brown ale. The ale that actually made it to my glass looks good and chocolatey brown. Though the beer looks good, this beverage was just a wee bit overcarbonated.

The smell, thru the foam, is indeed chocolatey. Rather than a raisiny malty makeup, it's a Mr. Goodbar-like chocolatey peanut. Oddly, however, the overwhelming fizz offers fuzz interference. It's a negative effect, and alliterative suggestion connotes figs--a flavor of which I'm typically not to fond. Fig chocolate, still, is the nose.

The taste struggles to overcome the fuzzy feel, and there's a blandness revealing either too little chocolate and/or too much fig. Upon further review, I taste toffee raisin with perhaps a hint of caramel. Grasping to objectivity with regards to the style, I conclude it's an ordinary brown--nothing too flavorful, but a bit of what makes browns brown. With all due respect, it's blah.

Anything other than carbon dioxide could add to the feel of this beer. I continue to battle fizz for the detection of anything. More chocolate, core toffee, more caramel, even more fig...any more of any of it, or perhaps just less carbonation, could make for a better feel.

It drinks like an average brown: heavier than the alcohol justifies, and too little of what makes craft beers crafty. I got this selection as a single from Total Wine, and it's been upright in a normal refrigerator since I bought it. Still, almost anything that blows up over the countertop takes a hit on the drinkability standard.

12 oz bottle served into an imperial pint glass, pours a clear cherry mahogany body with a small beige head that lasts a few minutes. Minimal patches of lace are left on the glass. Aroma features citrusy hops, chocolate malt, and some hazelnut. Mouthfeel is light medium bodied with more carbonation than expected. Taste has grapefruit and pine cone hops, chocolate malt, and lots of roasted, almost burnt, malt bitterness. Nice touch of nuttiness that tastes like hazelnuts. Finishes with a pine hops bitterness that is fleeting. I would estimate the abv. to be around 5%, but it's not noticed. A nicely executed brown ale that is quite tasty and pleasantly drinkable.

Drinkability: This was a way bitter brown..Most likely the most bitter I have had. A little too hoppy for my liking, this is my least favorite of what I had from Duck Rabbit. I will not search for this again.

Clear brown color with a strong pillowy off-white head. Smell is roasty with hints of caramel and plenty of earthy hop aroma. Taste is earthy in the beginning but gains a nice nuttiness in the middle. Lingering nuttiness and roast in the finish that is quite nice. High carbonation with a medium body. Pretty nice beer, but there are just a few things that take away from what it could be. The lingering aftertaste is awesome, but it isn't that great for me when it hits the tongue, and the mouthfeel wasn't quite on for me. Worth a try, you may love it.

Holy explosive head! This was an "Oh Shit!" on the pour as it foamed up about 5/8 of the glass and threatened to boil over (in my imperial pint glass, no less!). Took F-O-R-E-V-E-R to get the head to die down so I could manage a taste. Pillowy tan lace all over the glass and clumps on the glass. Roasted malt aromas mixed with a metallic scent and a dash of campfire ashes. Flavor has an upfront bitterness to it, followed by a sweeter middle of caramel and chocolate. Maybe some coffee notes as well? Finishes with a long-lasting bitterness. A taste of metal and more ash seeps in. Super-carbonated mouthfeel detracts from the overall experience. Quaffable.

picked this beer up on my vacation at the Outer Banks was in a 12oz long neck brown bottle with a crimped cap dated notched 10/07.

Opened to a very loud hiss,poured with a very generous light tan head,color was mahogany with reddish hues. Very good retention leaving chunky,clingy lacing. Well carbinated extra tiny bubbles surging up everywhere.

Very clean taste has an earthy/mineral taste. Light complex malty tastes of mostly chocolate also toasty and very nutty. Finishes with a clean,sharp, crisp, citrus rind feel with a chocolate fade. Has somewhat of and English feel to it,because of the nuttiness and the mineral tastes.

Light bodied,slightly grainy texture,with a mouthwatering dryness. Very refreshing. The best brown i've had to date one to compair other to. Wish this beer was avalible locally. Pick this one up if your're lucky enough to run across it. Hell, send me some too.

I got the beer at a take out pizza place and upon looking at the label, I noticed that the enjoy by date was Nov 2009...it's the last day of Jan 2010 so I was a bit skeptical on the true taste and that should be taken into account too when reading this review.

When I poured the beer into my pint glass there was a good amount of head and it actually took 2 pours to get it all in the glass. I think you can take or leave reviews on the type of head since it all depends on the cleanliness of your glassware but this head was Jay Leno like....muy grande. The beer is a nice brownish/copper color and looks to be bottle conditioned.

The smell of the beer is slightly sweet with noticeable hop notes. The hoppy notes seem a little muted which is probably due to the age of the beer. The nose doesn't come out and grab ya, as it would if this was a fresh beer.

The taste is definitely a bit mellow for a hoppy brown ale, again due to the age of the beer. The taste is fine but it does taste a little old. The beer has definitely mellowed a bit but there are signs that this would have been a more dynamic beer if it was fresher.

The mouthfeel is fine. Medium bodied and slighly more effervescent due to the bottle conditioning and age in the bottle.

The drinkability is okay too. It would be a lot better if it was fresher but all in all it's an okay beer in regards to drinkability. It's definitely mellowed out but would be right up my alley if it was fresh and the hops stood out like they were intended to.

I would try this beer again since I like hoppy brown ales and think this beer has a lot of potential when consumed fresh.

A nice looking brown ale, that pours a clear reddish brown with a nice tight head. The beer immediately smelled of chocolate with undertones of fruit preserves and plune. The taste is sharp and sour with little body and finishes with an astringent, acrid bitterness. This beer does not taste good at all. This beer ranks as a 1.0 for taste because it tastes nothing like what an American Brown should, it's just a brown. This is a rare drain-pour for me. I really hate pouring beers out, but this was unpalatable for me. I don't know why others have ranked it so high in the past but recent reviews have been down, like mine

note:
I tried looking at other reviews to see if others had the same experience with this beer that I did, and what I conclude is that a majority of tasters also tasted the same acidity that I taste. So this is likely not a contamination or defect, but just how the beer is. Also, because the beer didn't gush or smell sour, I don't think it's spoiled, just not good.

No secrets here, per the label "Hoppy and beautifully bitter". That may be a nice escape from the typical English style brown ale. Appears a deep chestnut mahogany brown hue with a light khaki head form fine bubbled even layers of lacing as it dwindles. Aroma has a big nutty chocolate tone with caramel and toffee blended in as well, but a strong air of herbal and earthy hops is provided as well. Flavor was raw with hop bitterness earthy herbal hops was right, those nutty dark chocolate tones are overshadowed by the wave of alpha hop bitterness giving the flavor a really dirty muddled flavor overall. Sharp acidity with a back end of sweetness finishes very dry in acidic, carbonation level is soft on the mouthfeel but body is medium with a slight level of oily hops. At this point just brew an IPA if you want to keep it a dark beer go black with your IPA, but compared to Terrapin and DFH's versions of a hoppy brown this one goes a bit overboard. Drinkability is kinda hurtin' due to the lack of cohesion of flavors, abrasive hops within a traditional brown doesn't work to well.

I had this a Village Whisky, home of the best burger in the world...but I digress. Duck Rabbit was proudly poured in my pint, with a nice brown and off white head that had nice lacing. It has a decent nose, full of chocolate, caramel, nuts, etc. Some sweetness up front, but finished OK, not great. The hops were there but not much of presence as I expected.

(Served in an American pint glass)
A- This beer has a slightly dense brown body with a rocky beige head that is supported by tiny bubbles in the carbonation.
S- This beer has a soft toasted brown malt with a coffee roasted note and a slight nougat aroma when it warms. The finish has a note of cream and lemons.
T- This beer has a coffee roasted malt with a slight tartness. There was a chocolate note grows as it warms. There is a green pine and lemon bite in the finish. The roasted notes and lemons linger and fight each other.
M- This beer has a medium-light mouthfeel with a big fizzy finish that pricks the tongue.
D- There is a weird blend of citrus earthy hops and roasted malts. The chocolate and lemon are odd with a tartness that is almost lactic but a bit more charred malt. This beer is a bit like eating dessert after brushing your teeth. The flavors really fight against each other.